Human beings were made to move, we are descendants of hunter gatherer whose minds have started interfacing with machines leaving our bodies behind. Exercise is important and though many have heard it before, for the vast majority that advice goes unheeded. I don't think this should be the case at all and I wanted to share a few of my experience in beginning exercise.

From my teens I have been slightly overweight. I remember being in middle and all the way through high school and starting college I was not happy with my weight. I tried exercising at home and for a little while I did lose some weight, but I have gravitated towards putting it back on. Ultimately, as life gets more stressful some of try to deal with it by self-medicating, and I was for a time like that. Due to some personal crisis I finally decided that I had had enough and that I needed a change. This thought simmered in my mind and I wanted to do something about it but it seems that I was also too busy to do anything about it, a year passed. Finally in December 2007 I decided I was going to do something about it.

The internet is filled with advice about how to go about it, why you should do it, and how it will make you feel. There are even suggestions about what exercises you should do and so on. I have found in my twenty-some years that all of that advice tends not to help much. The main reason for this is that if you have never worked out in your life or participated in sports activity, then you really don't have the framework to start. The human brain depends on a schema and in order to learn one has to have something to latch on to, if one has no reference point it's hard to begin. I knew that I was in this position and it was impossible to do this myself, so just like school, I needed some help. I needed a trainer!

I went to gym and I asked the guy at the counter who I should talk to about getting a trainer. He referred me to a guy named James who at first was a bit standoffish for whatever reason and for some reason seemed pissed off. James calmed down and we talked for about an hour about my goals and what I wanted. I basically told him I was fed up with my physical condition and I wanted change. He ran some tests, told me what I basically knew, my cardio health was horrible, I was overweight and I needed to lose about 10 lbs and put on some muscle. He asked me how many sessions I wanted, basically it was an option between 24 or 48, I went for 48. It's not cheap, around between $1,000-$2,000 depending on discounts, but I think it's well worth it.

I have been at it now for over a month and generally I am satisfied with what we have done so far. A lot of people would leave it there, but I want to elaborate on what I mean by that.

• I in general feel better all around, I used to have highs and lows, and in general I have a few lows; I feel tired but I feel great about life in general it seems that we were made to exercise, go figure.
• My skins looks and feels better.
• I have a lot more concentration to do things like debug code, before I would tire out much quicker looking at a complex piece of code, now it just seems easier.
• My heart doesn't start beating faster when I climb stairs or anything like that.
• I find my sleeping pattern is much better when I exercise than when I don't.
• I can stay on task for longer periods of time and that means I can make more money than I would if I were not doing this.
• Obviously my body looks better and I expect that to only get better over time.

I will write more about it as time goes on, but in general exercising is good for you, and you should do it. It will improve your productivity, make you feel better and look healthier, and it's good for you... p.s. you'll get all the chicks, here's to hoping.